WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.740 Joshua, welcome to the show. Thank you. Tell 00:00:03.740 --> 00:00:10.759 me about your vision. My vision. So I work as 00:00:10.759 --> 00:00:15.919 a fractional COO because I like helping small 00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:19.719 business owners. I like the project work. I like 00:00:19.719 --> 00:00:22.300 that there are people in different seasons of 00:00:22.300 --> 00:00:25.260 their life that need a guide for a short period 00:00:25.260 --> 00:00:27.719 of time to help them deal with their challenges. 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:31.399 And then once it's done, not necessarily need 00:00:31.399 --> 00:00:33.060 that person beyond that. I mean, they can keep 00:00:33.060 --> 00:00:35.979 going if they want, but I like the practice of 00:00:35.979 --> 00:00:38.399 meeting people, solving their problems, getting 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:41.659 them going. And the big reason for that was I 00:00:41.659 --> 00:00:44.439 used to be the director of economic development 00:00:44.439 --> 00:00:47.039 for a local chamber back when I had a W2 job. 00:00:47.560 --> 00:00:51.060 And I really enjoyed stepping into businesses 00:00:51.060 --> 00:00:53.500 that needed help and they were having all kinds 00:00:53.500 --> 00:00:56.439 of problems. And to see that sigh of relief when 00:00:56.439 --> 00:00:58.100 you're like, hey, listen, I'm here to support 00:00:58.100 --> 00:01:00.670 and help you. let me just get you the resources 00:01:00.670 --> 00:01:04.930 or connections you need um it just i mean it 00:01:04.930 --> 00:01:07.569 helps those business owners significantly and 00:01:07.569 --> 00:01:11.290 i do have an economics background in understanding 00:01:11.290 --> 00:01:13.969 the role that small businesses play in our community 00:01:13.969 --> 00:01:17.530 i think we need to do more efforts to support 00:01:17.530 --> 00:01:19.930 and help those members of our community that 00:01:19.930 --> 00:01:26.349 provide goods services jobs money resources we 00:01:26.349 --> 00:01:31.870 need to take care of them and help them And it's 00:01:31.870 --> 00:01:34.890 getting harder. Taxes are going up. Regulations 00:01:34.890 --> 00:01:37.049 are going up. Competition is going up. And so 00:01:37.049 --> 00:01:40.790 I want to do my part to help preserve small businesses 00:01:40.790 --> 00:01:44.629 as community members so we can have small, resilient 00:01:44.629 --> 00:01:48.689 communities that are almost kind of self -sufficient 00:01:48.689 --> 00:01:52.849 or sustainable. Thank you for sharing that. Tell 00:01:52.849 --> 00:01:58.129 me more. Why small business owners? And I think 00:01:58.129 --> 00:01:59.510 you kind of answered that, but I would love to 00:01:59.510 --> 00:02:01.689 hear more on all your thoughts on that. And how 00:02:01.689 --> 00:02:05.170 do you get started on this path from being a 00:02:05.170 --> 00:02:07.849 W -2 employee in the Chamber of Commerce, I'm 00:02:07.849 --> 00:02:14.229 guessing, to being in front of a show and going 00:02:14.229 --> 00:02:19.889 about being a financial CEO? Yeah. Well, for 00:02:19.889 --> 00:02:21.569 small businesses, I think it's something like 00:02:21.569 --> 00:02:25.599 90 % of businesses are small businesses. uh they 00:02:25.599 --> 00:02:28.439 employ i think like 60 of the workforce i gotta 00:02:28.439 --> 00:02:31.139 go through the stats again but it's just it's 00:02:31.139 --> 00:02:32.780 a significant number it's actually bigger than 00:02:32.780 --> 00:02:34.159 what most people think because they think like 00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:36.280 large corporations but yes they have a lot of 00:02:36.280 --> 00:02:38.800 people on their staff but in aggregate small 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:41.500 businesses make up a bigger percentage and so 00:02:41.500 --> 00:02:44.740 um and they also keep the dollars local i mean 00:02:44.740 --> 00:02:46.599 the guy that's down the street that has that 00:02:46.599 --> 00:02:49.719 brick and mortar when he you know sells us goods 00:02:49.719 --> 00:02:51.599 and services that money goes into his account 00:02:51.599 --> 00:02:54.240 and he's grocery shopping in the area and so 00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:56.919 that dollar stays around it's an economic multiplier 00:02:56.919 --> 00:03:00.159 um so understanding the mechanisms of that and 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:04.659 the importance of that that's that's why compassionate 00:03:04.659 --> 00:03:11.300 for it um and how i got into this yeah uh when 00:03:11.300 --> 00:03:14.099 i was working for the chamber i had the chance 00:03:14.840 --> 00:03:19.479 to be a COO of a $10 million in revenue manufacturing 00:03:19.479 --> 00:03:22.120 facility. I was supposed to walk into the job. 00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:26.039 This was February of 2020. Not a great time for 00:03:26.039 --> 00:03:31.000 a career transition. So they basically told me 00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:32.759 like, hey, we're going to put this on hold and 00:03:32.759 --> 00:03:36.939 we'll get back to you. So, you know, unfortunately, 00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:38.819 my family likes to eat and they like it to have 00:03:38.819 --> 00:03:40.500 a roof over their head. So I had to figure out 00:03:40.500 --> 00:03:44.419 how to make money. I used to be an entrepreneur 00:03:44.419 --> 00:03:48.280 before. And so I saw everybody going online. 00:03:48.879 --> 00:03:53.039 I built an SEO audit business to help audit people's 00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:54.479 websites and tell them exactly what they need 00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:57.099 to do to fix their websites. I figured I would 00:03:57.099 --> 00:03:59.659 just give them all the information, no secrecy, 00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:02.400 no dark magic. Just here's what you need to do. 00:04:02.479 --> 00:04:04.419 Here's the data and information. Here's the best 00:04:04.419 --> 00:04:09.139 practices. That took off really quick. So got 00:04:09.139 --> 00:04:13.110 to six figures in 18 months. And a buddy of mine 00:04:13.110 --> 00:04:16.610 that was a fractional CFO for a regional CPA 00:04:16.610 --> 00:04:19.589 firm caught up with me and he said, hey, Joshua, 00:04:19.769 --> 00:04:21.329 you know, with what you did with your business 00:04:21.329 --> 00:04:25.269 and what you did at the chamber, you should look 00:04:25.269 --> 00:04:27.889 at becoming a fractional COO and stepping in 00:04:27.889 --> 00:04:31.290 and helping people. I thought, okay, I did it 00:04:31.290 --> 00:04:33.870 at the chamber kind of a little bit, so let's 00:04:33.870 --> 00:04:37.189 do it. So I put a shingle up and started picking 00:04:37.189 --> 00:04:40.790 up clients right away. just been going full tilt 00:04:40.790 --> 00:04:44.250 since I put myself out there because believe 00:04:44.250 --> 00:04:46.709 it or not, you know, there's not a lot of operations 00:04:46.709 --> 00:04:49.269 people out there trying to hook their services. 00:04:50.230 --> 00:04:52.610 There seems to be a lot of marketers and sales 00:04:52.610 --> 00:04:55.589 people, but operations is not one of those like, 00:04:55.709 --> 00:04:57.949 Oh yeah, that's what I need. Like, Oh yeah, that's 00:04:57.949 --> 00:05:00.550 where I want to go with it. So it's been interesting 00:05:00.550 --> 00:05:03.709 to be in the marketplace and see the, see the 00:05:03.709 --> 00:05:07.470 overall positive response to that. You know, 00:05:07.470 --> 00:05:10.290 Joshua, you, It's very interesting that you mentioned 00:05:10.290 --> 00:05:13.110 that. I would say infrastructure is probably 00:05:13.110 --> 00:05:17.589 one of the most undervalued or overlooked aspect 00:05:17.589 --> 00:05:20.490 of any business. And most people don't want to 00:05:20.490 --> 00:05:23.949 work in it, build it, or don't even know what 00:05:23.949 --> 00:05:26.629 to do about it. I have no idea. They think marketing 00:05:26.629 --> 00:05:31.589 fixes their business, and they ignore this big 00:05:31.589 --> 00:05:34.470 infrastructure issue out there. They'll help 00:05:34.470 --> 00:05:35.930 them grow their own business, and they have no 00:05:35.930 --> 00:05:38.610 idea why. I mean, the best analogy for it is 00:05:38.610 --> 00:05:41.430 it's a leaky bucket. Yeah. And they're like, 00:05:41.529 --> 00:05:43.029 oh, I'm just going to keep adding water. Yeah, 00:05:43.089 --> 00:05:45.149 sure. You can do that or you can fix the bucket. 00:05:45.529 --> 00:05:49.769 Yeah. Wow. Yeah. I'm glad you mentioned something. 00:05:49.850 --> 00:05:57.649 That's awesome. Yeah. So. Tell me more. Like. 00:05:59.129 --> 00:06:04.350 The transition from being the SEO audit person, 00:06:04.449 --> 00:06:09.139 right? to now the fractional CEO. What was that 00:06:09.139 --> 00:06:11.740 like? And I think there's also a lot of lessons 00:06:11.740 --> 00:06:14.560 you probably learned in the 18 months you were 00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:18.279 getting your business going as an SEO audit company. 00:06:18.819 --> 00:06:21.379 What was that like? I bet there's a lot of lessons 00:06:21.379 --> 00:06:26.699 you learned. Oh, there was. So I, many years 00:06:26.699 --> 00:06:32.720 ago, tried to be a digital agency website. And 00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:36.040 this was before social media was, off the ground 00:06:36.040 --> 00:06:41.680 so i'm kind of old but that's okay um and i i 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:44.019 just i didn't have good business practices i 00:06:44.019 --> 00:06:45.819 just didn't understand structure organization 00:06:45.819 --> 00:06:49.000 i i had people not paying me and then i would 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:50.959 do more work to try to get them to pay and i 00:06:50.959 --> 00:06:52.740 just every mistake in the book that you could 00:06:52.740 --> 00:06:56.379 make as an entrepreneur i made it and uh finally 00:06:56.379 --> 00:07:00.839 i went back to school and then um you know got 00:07:00.839 --> 00:07:03.279 a w -2 job and everything else and and so this 00:07:03.790 --> 00:07:05.990 This new version of the SEO business, like I 00:07:05.990 --> 00:07:08.029 was it came from some really harsh learnings 00:07:08.029 --> 00:07:11.670 from before. So this wasn't like, you know, magically, 00:07:11.750 --> 00:07:15.750 I just got it right the first go. But I think 00:07:15.750 --> 00:07:17.769 what I did different was I took my experience 00:07:17.769 --> 00:07:20.550 of watching other businesses succeed and fail 00:07:20.550 --> 00:07:23.790 and some failing from success, which that's a 00:07:23.790 --> 00:07:27.970 that's a fun one. And so when I started my business, 00:07:28.069 --> 00:07:30.310 I was like, you know, if I have one clear product 00:07:30.310 --> 00:07:34.689 and one clear ICP. And I just hit that over and 00:07:34.689 --> 00:07:36.850 over again and really focus. I think I can do 00:07:36.850 --> 00:07:39.629 it. And there was, there was enough because I, 00:07:39.670 --> 00:07:42.589 my market differentiator was, I'm not a SEO guy 00:07:42.589 --> 00:07:44.850 that's trying to do 27 ,000 things for you. Or 00:07:44.850 --> 00:07:47.610 I really am the web developer. That's once the 00:07:47.610 --> 00:07:49.769 S you know, I do SEO because I have to, because 00:07:49.769 --> 00:07:52.329 I want to get the website contract. No, I was 00:07:52.329 --> 00:07:54.370 an SEO that did SEO. So then people were like, 00:07:54.430 --> 00:07:55.790 did you do social media? I was like, no, you 00:07:55.790 --> 00:07:58.029 need to go talk to a social media person. And 00:07:58.029 --> 00:07:59.850 so it was really clear what my lane was. And 00:07:59.850 --> 00:08:02.769 then because of the audit that I did. I looked 00:08:02.769 --> 00:08:04.250 at what was available on the market and what 00:08:04.250 --> 00:08:06.670 people were presenting. And, you know, it was 00:08:06.670 --> 00:08:09.089 a lot of like bait and switch or it was, you 00:08:09.089 --> 00:08:11.230 know, oh, well, here's the answer. But like, 00:08:11.269 --> 00:08:13.110 I'm the only one that can fix it because I've 00:08:13.110 --> 00:08:15.970 defined the terms this way. Or, you know, it's 00:08:15.970 --> 00:08:18.250 I don't know. There's just a lot of tactics out 00:08:18.250 --> 00:08:21.069 there to guarantee sales and money and, you know, 00:08:21.069 --> 00:08:25.329 all those different things. And so I just decided 00:08:25.329 --> 00:08:26.810 I don't want to play any of that. So here's the 00:08:26.810 --> 00:08:29.029 data. Here's the information. Here's how you 00:08:29.029 --> 00:08:32.330 fix it. Here's exactly how to fix it. And people 00:08:32.330 --> 00:08:37.710 were excited for it. And I think my overall mantra 00:08:37.710 --> 00:08:40.710 when it comes to business interactions is to 00:08:40.710 --> 00:08:42.490 try to provide more value than I'm capturing. 00:08:42.929 --> 00:08:45.690 And so as long as the balance sheet is in my 00:08:45.690 --> 00:08:48.570 favor, right, then I know I did right. And so 00:08:48.570 --> 00:08:51.629 if I give somebody and, you know, they fix their 00:08:51.629 --> 00:08:53.769 website and they generate $100 ,000 in new sales 00:08:53.769 --> 00:08:56.769 and they only gave me $5 ,000 for all the work 00:08:56.769 --> 00:09:01.629 I did. Cool. You know. There was about another 00:09:01.629 --> 00:09:03.610 $10 ,000 worth of work you needed to do and you 00:09:03.610 --> 00:09:05.429 did it. So then here you go. You get the full 00:09:05.429 --> 00:09:07.889 return and the benefit of what I did. And if 00:09:07.889 --> 00:09:09.110 you decide to put it up on the shelf because 00:09:09.110 --> 00:09:12.309 your team doesn't want to do the work, okay, 00:09:12.370 --> 00:09:14.710 but I know that this could generate, you know, 00:09:14.730 --> 00:09:17.350 at least $10 ,000, $20 ,000 worth of additional 00:09:17.350 --> 00:09:19.769 work. So again, I'm still not charging the full 00:09:19.769 --> 00:09:22.950 value of what I could receive for that. So that 00:09:22.950 --> 00:09:26.529 made me okay. But the other part, the reason 00:09:26.529 --> 00:09:29.539 why this was successful too was It's very operationally 00:09:29.539 --> 00:09:32.419 focused. I mean, I literally have a system on 00:09:32.419 --> 00:09:34.799 like how I report things out. I have different 00:09:34.799 --> 00:09:38.399 data at different levels for who I am talking 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:40.460 to in the organization. So if I'm talking to 00:09:40.460 --> 00:09:43.779 a CEO, they get the CEO overview to kind of know 00:09:43.779 --> 00:09:45.700 how to manage that. Directors have a little more 00:09:45.700 --> 00:09:48.600 information. Mid -level managers and the doers, 00:09:48.639 --> 00:09:51.919 I give them detailed files. So if I give you 00:09:51.919 --> 00:09:56.039 the data dump and you're a director level, you're 00:09:56.039 --> 00:09:58.750 overwhelmed. So anyway, I just created systems 00:09:58.750 --> 00:10:01.950 and processes. And by doing that, I think that 00:10:01.950 --> 00:10:04.029 set me up for that next conversation about doing 00:10:04.029 --> 00:10:07.850 operations for people because I've already operationalized 00:10:07.850 --> 00:10:11.029 my business and how it runs and set up systems 00:10:11.029 --> 00:10:14.190 for people. So why not do that in a more formal 00:10:14.190 --> 00:10:17.169 way? That's awesome. Thank you for sharing that. 00:10:18.909 --> 00:10:21.590 So on this show, I think there's, I don't say 00:10:21.590 --> 00:10:26.580 this enough. We like to hear. like the good, 00:10:26.600 --> 00:10:30.360 bad, and the ugly of entrepreneurship. I think 00:10:30.360 --> 00:10:33.179 that's something is if more and more entrepreneurs 00:10:33.179 --> 00:10:35.759 shared that authentically, I think the audience 00:10:35.759 --> 00:10:38.659 would know like, hey, this is what it takes to 00:10:38.659 --> 00:10:41.740 do this route. The entrepreneurship route is 00:10:41.740 --> 00:10:44.460 not easy. It is not all hunky -dory. It's not 00:10:44.460 --> 00:10:48.340 all like flowers here, rainbows there, and like 00:10:48.340 --> 00:10:50.100 you're just going through this meadow. Oh, they 00:10:50.100 --> 00:10:52.399 think you get to do whatever with your time and 00:10:52.399 --> 00:10:55.769 you just, you know, wake up. Yeah, exactly. I 00:10:55.769 --> 00:10:58.289 got freedom. I work, choose my own hours. Yeah. 00:10:58.870 --> 00:11:03.230 So you mentioned in one of your, when you fill 00:11:03.230 --> 00:11:05.509 out one of the form, you mentioned, I also ran 00:11:05.509 --> 00:11:08.509 a terrible agency for many years and have failed. 00:11:08.889 --> 00:11:11.529 I've learned from those failures and helped others 00:11:11.529 --> 00:11:14.990 and myself succeed. Yeah. I would love to hear 00:11:14.990 --> 00:11:19.549 your thoughts more on that. More on more. You're 00:11:19.549 --> 00:11:22.049 like, you're like NASCAR. You watch it just for 00:11:22.049 --> 00:11:24.159 the. you're waiting for that crash and then you're 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:28.259 like let's see it over and over again yeah um 00:11:28.259 --> 00:11:31.519 i don't know it's my first piece of advice for 00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:34.139 anyone going into entrepreneurship don't do it 00:11:34.139 --> 00:11:39.379 yes and then if they say oh you're probably right 00:11:39.379 --> 00:11:41.500 then i'm like okay great you just failed and 00:11:41.500 --> 00:11:43.120 so you definitely should not be doing entrepreneurship 00:11:43.120 --> 00:11:47.480 but if i say don't do it and they say hey but 00:11:47.480 --> 00:11:49.539 i have a good idea i know this could work i'm 00:11:49.539 --> 00:11:52.220 like great you passed the first test right like 00:11:52.700 --> 00:11:54.620 There's going to be so many things coming against 00:11:54.620 --> 00:11:58.000 you to tell you why you shouldn't do it. Really, 00:11:59.500 --> 00:12:01.000 actually, there'll be times where you probably 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:02.820 shouldn't do it because you're not the right 00:12:02.820 --> 00:12:05.840 person for this, but you can be the right person. 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:08.659 And I think that's where entrepreneurship is 00:12:08.659 --> 00:12:11.179 one of those things of like, it's a test of character 00:12:11.179 --> 00:12:14.600 and it's a test of like your grit and everything 00:12:14.600 --> 00:12:16.679 that you think that you know about business ownership, 00:12:16.740 --> 00:12:20.000 it's going to be tested. And so it's up to you 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:23.149 to step up. You can become that person. Listen, 00:12:23.269 --> 00:12:25.250 you can learn all the different facets of your 00:12:25.250 --> 00:12:26.870 business. You can learn how to fix all that stuff. 00:12:27.409 --> 00:12:30.929 But you have to have the attitude of like being 00:12:30.929 --> 00:12:36.070 ready to learn and grow. And so I think, you 00:12:36.070 --> 00:12:40.090 know, when I first started off doing creative 00:12:40.090 --> 00:12:43.710 work, creative work has inherent problems with 00:12:43.710 --> 00:12:47.029 it. You know, it's not like you're trying to 00:12:47.029 --> 00:12:50.149 install a toilet. You know, the toilet goes in. 00:12:51.519 --> 00:12:53.580 There's certain specifications, but there's not 00:12:53.580 --> 00:12:55.460 a lot of options. And so there's the toilet and 00:12:55.460 --> 00:12:58.659 you're done. Check. We're talking about trying 00:12:58.659 --> 00:13:00.659 to capture somebody else's vision of what they 00:13:00.659 --> 00:13:02.899 want, but they don't have the technical expertise. 00:13:03.340 --> 00:13:05.379 And then you're trying to translate it and then 00:13:05.379 --> 00:13:09.879 build it while they're critiquing. Like it just 00:13:09.879 --> 00:13:12.960 has all kinds of problems. And so I think I was 00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:15.279 unaware of, you know, I could build websites. 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:17.179 I could code it like, yeah, sure. No problem. 00:13:17.559 --> 00:13:19.970 But then you deal with. people that have opinions 00:13:19.970 --> 00:13:24.470 and thoughts and all of a sudden, you know, if 00:13:24.470 --> 00:13:26.990 you get a chance, go check out the oatmeal. When 00:13:26.990 --> 00:13:30.110 a website design goes straight to hell, brain 00:13:30.110 --> 00:13:34.169 analogy of what, what it's like. So anyway, so 00:13:34.169 --> 00:13:36.149 that was just one facet of my business stack 00:13:36.149 --> 00:13:39.570 that with everything else with, and I just, I 00:13:39.570 --> 00:13:41.470 wasn't prepared. I didn't have contracts in place. 00:13:41.509 --> 00:13:43.470 I didn't have contingencies in place. I didn't 00:13:43.470 --> 00:13:46.470 have guidelines. I didn't set good expectations. 00:13:46.629 --> 00:13:50.919 And so. that's where essentially i the thing 00:13:50.919 --> 00:13:55.519 is i failed but i didn't fail like one day i 00:13:55.519 --> 00:13:57.600 was open the next day i was closed because everything 00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:00.000 blew up and there was nothing it was this like 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:03.100 it's like uh imagine if you're trying to cook 00:14:03.100 --> 00:14:05.120 in a kitchen and your every dish that you're 00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:07.399 making is burning and it's burning on the stove 00:14:07.399 --> 00:14:08.940 and it's burning in the oven and it's burning 00:14:08.940 --> 00:14:11.580 in the toaster and like and yet you still have 00:14:11.580 --> 00:14:14.039 to keep cooking and so that's what it was it 00:14:14.039 --> 00:14:17.570 was just like i just Oh, it was terrible. I should 00:14:17.570 --> 00:14:20.690 have quit earlier than I did. I should have gotten 00:14:20.690 --> 00:14:26.990 a V2 job. But I hung out for, yeah, six years, 00:14:27.090 --> 00:14:31.049 me and my wife and my kids. And I can't say that 00:14:31.049 --> 00:14:34.110 I wouldn't ever have done that because of that 00:14:34.110 --> 00:14:38.309 experience. I now know a lot. But would I wish 00:14:38.309 --> 00:14:42.129 that upon anybody? No. And is that the path for 00:14:42.129 --> 00:14:45.620 most people when they're starting? No. Is that 00:14:45.620 --> 00:14:49.320 a possibility? Yes. And I've seen worse. So thank 00:14:49.320 --> 00:14:51.779 you for being here today. I'm really happy that 00:14:51.779 --> 00:14:53.820 you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. I'm looking 00:14:53.820 --> 00:14:57.080 forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes 00:14:57.080 --> 00:14:58.860 continue to move forward. This is going to get 00:14:58.860 --> 00:15:01.480 more and more fun. We'll have more and more engagement 00:15:01.480 --> 00:15:03.580 as well. We'll invite people to participate in 00:15:03.580 --> 00:15:05.759 the show. And thank you for giving us your time 00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:08.059 and attention. Have an excellent time building 00:15:08.059 --> 00:15:10.379 out your vision and becoming a vision pro yourself.